News | The World According to MEH

Daily Post December

Posted on December 1, 2015 by admin • 0 Comments

NaNoWriMo is over, and I ‘won’ it with ease*. Writing many, many words has never been an issue with me. In fact, when I used to write for ABLC, someone coined the phrase ‘pulling a Minna’ for writing any article over 2,000 words long. That’s like a sneeze for me,** so I don’t do NaNoWriMo the normal way. For those who don’t know what NaNoWriMo is, basically, you write a 50,000-word novel in the month of November, which breaks down to 1,667 words a day. I can write that in roughly an hour and a half if I really concentrate, so I usually set a different goal for NaNoWriMo. This year, my aim was to write 5,000 words a day. I’ve had the same goal in the past, and I’ve met that goal twice, I think (out of two times). It was feasible without being terribly burdensome, and I managed to meet my personal goal with ten thousand words to spare. I finished one novel, started a second one, decided it was a crap a third of the way through, and started a third–which is much better than the second, thank you for asking. It’s still crappy right now as is the first one, but at least they are both down on paper.

Really, that’s the reason I did NaNoWriMo this year. I haven’t written much of anything in the last year or so, and I wanted to kick-start my writing again. Once I stopped blogging regularly, I wasn’t disciplined enough to to write daily on my own. I’m externally motivated, which is a bad thing, but once I fully commit to something, I’m all in–which is a good thing. This is the reason I’ve decided to commit to posting a blog post every day in December. I miss blogging, and I was quite good at it, which is a full-blown brag and not a humble-brag at all. I had a passion for it, which helps, but I also did my research thoroughly and edited the shit out of my posts. Editing my fiction is not my strong point, which is ironic since it’s what I do for a living (editing, not fiction, though). For whatever reason, I have a harder time chopping up my fiction than I do my blog posts. I think it’s because while I can be flamboyant in my posts and many of them are my opinion rather than hard facts, My fiction, on the other hand, is a delicate flower that blooms in the hothouse that is my mind. It’s my baby, and I am pretty protective of it. Don’t get me wrong: I do edit my fiction–just not as rigorously as I do my blog posts. If there’s a phrase I like or a scene of which I am enamored, I am loath to excise it, even if it doesn’t fit in the piece overall.

But I digress, as is my wont. My point is, and I do have one, that while I love writing, I don’t do it nearly as often as I should. Therefore, I used NaNoWriMo as a way to make myself write, and now that it’s over, I want to continue the writing train. For some reason, now I have this song stuck in my head. “Come on write it, train. Write it!” “I think I can; I think I can!” And, because I know myself well, I know that I have to give myself goals in order not to allow myself to fall back into…well, not writing at all. So. My declaration is that I will write and publish a post every day.*** If I don’t write a post, I will write 5,000 words of fiction instead. The latter will have to be on the honer system because I’m not going to publish unedited fiction–no one wants to see that.
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I. Am. Back. Bitchez!

Posted on April 25, 2014 by admin • 0 Comments

It’s been a very long time, hasn’t it? Two and a half years since I waved a tearful goodbye to y’all, clutching a sodden hankie to my chest. So much has happened in that time, and yet, so much hasn’t changed. It’s a weird dichotomy, but it’s one I’m willing to embrace.

When I shut down my blog, I thought it’d be for good. Well, never say never or forever and all that ::JAZZ HANDS:: because here I am, revving up my blog again. I’m not sure exactly what I want to say because I’m not sure exactly what I want to do with my personal blog. But, if you bear with me, we can figure this out together.

I don’t blog politically any more. I burned out after the 2012 elections, and I haven’t yet recovered. I still keep up with politics, but I’m not nearly as involved in them as I once was. I started feeling like I was spitting in the wind, and, honestly, I didn’t have the fire I once had for it.

I gave up on writing for a while – or rather, it gave up on me. I couldn’t write blog posts because I was censoring myself as I went, afraid to let the real me speak. What posts I managed to write were antiseptic and devoid of life – something that my writing has never been. In turn, that inhibition stifled my ability to write fiction as well so that I couldn’t write anything at all. I was too aware how some of my opinions weren’t popular or could be perceived as problematic, and I allowed it to silence me. It was only when the Suey Park/#CancelColbert mess happened on Twitter* that I felt I had to speak up. I was appalled that she was becoming the face of Asian American activism, and I needed people to know that not all Asian Americans agreed with her.

That’s when I realized that I was sitting on stuff that needed to be expressed or I would have a coronary holding it in. I’m still nervous because what I have to say may piss off people on my side, but I can no longer keep silent. There’s some shit that I need to say, and I don’t want to be restrained in how I say it, so I figured that dusting the cobwebs from this place and hanging out my shingle out again would be the way to go.
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Updates! Read All About It!

Posted on December 21, 2010 by admin • 8 Comments

Hello. It’s been awhile. This feels strange, and yet, it’s also familiar. I want to thank everyone who has told me that s/he misses my blogging. I appreciate it more than you know. I have missed blogging. Obviously, not enough to do it again. At least, not here.

Newest news: I’m blogging over at Angry Black Lady’s place. Here is one of her posts that she cross-post over at Balloon Juice. This is my intro post, but not my actual first post. I was ridiculously nervous after posting my first post that I couldn’t sleep. I asked myself why. I mean, I blog here about very intimate, difficult, and personal things. However, I’m not likely to offend anyone by what I write here (except for my lifestyle choices). In the world of political blogging, if I am not offending someone, then I am doing it wrong.

My fears were for naught. I was welcomed warmly into the fold, and I’m having a blast. ABL also asked Emily Hauser (ee) to cross-post as well. Here is her intro post. Notice the difference. As I have been joking, ABL is the sassy one; Emily is the classy one; I am the brassy one. ABL is hilariously funny and spot-on in her rantings. Emily is a warm, delightful, thoughtful blogger who always makes me think, whether I want to or not. She is also funny. Me? Well, you all know I’m rude, raucous, and long-winded. But, I’m also funny as hell and good with a phrase or two. And, I have deep complex thoughts at times. However, blogging over there is very different from blogging here (like I have to get the facts straight. I am NOT FOX News), and I’m still finding my groove. The biggest thing is that I’m trying valiantly to cut down on my word count, and I’m succeeding somewhat.
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Closing the Curtains

Posted on November 23, 2010 by admin • 26 Comments

curtains Hello. In my last entry, in addition to posting the pics of me as Miss Indy Pedant, the foul-mouthed fifties housewife, I teased that I had been mulling something over for the past month or two. I said, “Hey, watch this space for a kinda big announcement. It’s coming. It’s gonna be (kinda) BIG. Really, I mean it.”

Well, it’s time for me to make that announcement. I have known for at least two weeks that this time was at hand–it’s just, I didn’t want to acknowledge it. OK. Deep breath. Announcement first, and then explanation (as opposed to my usual M.O. of explanation first, and then announcement).

–DEEP BREATH–

Oh. Mah. Gah.

Posted on November 15, 2010 by admin • 12 Comments

OH. MAH. GAH! Did I really go out in public looking like that?????

Choolie posted the pics in FB, and holy shit. My hair! It really is an event in and of itself. Looking in the mirror didn’t give me the full scope of what I looked like (really sorry I forgot the pearls, though). I can’t stop staring at the pics. Who is that woman? And what did she do with the real Minna? EEK.

I have to say, I really like the picture of Choolie and me with me pointing my rolling pin (which kept falling apart. It’s really old) at the camera. Her tag line for the night was, “I’m better. Really!” Mine was, “I WILL make pie. Don’t think I won’t!”

OK, my line was funny at the time. When I look at the pictures, I remember how creative everyone was. I was really impressed by how much time and effort people put into their costumes. It really was like being in another world, and I can’t stop looking at myself! I look so strange.

All right. General housekeeping info: I have made it to actual goal of NaNoWriMo: 50,000 words. I made it on Nov. 10, as usual. Even though I was trying not to get caught up in the number, I couldn’t help pushing myself on the 10th. I wrote 8K in that one day, which is pretty good, even for me. Pat, pat, pat. Yes, I’m patting myself on the back. 50,000 in ten days ain’t bad. Of course, for me, it’s not as hard as running a marathon, but still. Even if it’s not hard for me to write the words, it’s still work. I wrote the 8K on the 10th in about five hours.

The Monster Mash (Up)

Posted on November 1, 2010 by admin • 12 Comments

ETA: Go vote tomorrow. Seriously. I don’t care for whom you vote (well, yes I do, but it’s still your choice, damn it)–just vote.

This is a mash-up post of all the things floating in my head. I am kinda tossing them all in one entry because I can.

First of all, I am doing NaNoWriMo again this year. I have done it for the past three years, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it again. Why? Well, the goal of it is to write a 50,000 word novel in a month. As y’all know, writing a lot of words is NOT a problem for me. Hell, I average 2,500 words in one blog entry. For the past three NaNoWriMos (and I’ve won all three, despite what their site says, and no, I’m not OCD about it, not at all), I hit the 50,000 words mark around the tenth day of the month. I usually don’t talk about it with other people doing NaNoWriMo because I know how it sounds. NaNoWriMo has been good for me, though, because it encouraged (OK, forced, but that’s just because of my own OCD) me to write every day for a month.

However, as to the main goal of NaNoWriMo, it’s not an accomplishment for me if it’s something I can do easily. That’s why I debated this year as to whether I would do NaNoWriMo again or not. Yes, it’s a good motivator, but if ultimately it doesn’t push me to the next step (publishing), then it’s really basically a masturbatory exercise for me. Now, while I have nothing against masturbation (believe you me), in this case, it’s not particularly productive.

I talked with friends about it. I mused about it. I had decided not to do it this year. It really felt like just a way to be doing something for the sake of doing something. Then, I thought, what if I changed the goal? Just because the stated purpose is to reach a certain word count, that doesn’t mean I can’t have a different goal–as long as I meet the stated one, of course.

So. This year’s personal goal for NaNoWriMo is to have a publishable novel by the end of the month. In the past, I have written novels during the month, only to shove them in a metaphorical drawer and not submit them for publication. I still may at some point, but it’s self-defeating to write them and then just let them sit. I have done that with many works I’ve written, which means I’m only engaging in half the activity of writing–the creative and fun half (the actual writing). Next step is to submit and/or self-publish.

The Slow Reveal

Posted on February 10, 2010 by admin • 3 Comments

All right. Today, I am going to start by doing something I rarely do: I am going to pat myself on the back. I have a difficult time congratulating myself when I do something good, so I have decided to do that now. Here. In the first paragraph of this entry. I have two things to share. Gulp.

#1 (OK, this is the second paragraph. I lied. Deal). My mom’s magnum opus went through the process at a very fast-pace and is now accepted to be published. Why am I patting myself on the back for this? Because I worked my ass off on it, and that shit looked good. I had an interactive (or whatever it’s called) table of contents (if I updated the chapters, I could automatically update the TOC, too) and everything. I mean, damn. That was some of my best editing work ever. I really hit the ball out of the park with this one. Yes, a second round of edits is coming up, and yes, I made a few mistakes, but overall, I did a kick-ass job. Pat, pat, pat.

#2. In the last three weeks, I have lost an inch-and-a-half around my waist, which translates to 7.5 pounds. This is exactly how much I lose each week whenever I start losing weight. I had forgotten how…not easy…steady the loss is in the beginning. I won’t say easy because it’s been damn hard work. Still. It’s been a nice little boost to pull out the tape-measure (I don’t do scales) and see the steady loss.

Now that that is out of the way, I would like to say that once I am done with my mother’s magnum opus and a couple other things I am doing for her right now (including booking her flight to Colorado because apparently the interwebs is too tough for her, and no, Mom, I do not want to go with you to your conference), we will be setting some very clear delineations between what is my job and what isn’t. When we started working on her magnum opus, we just said I would edit the thing. That was it. Oh, it also included re-typing her thesis because that was lost in the Great Hard Drive Crash of Aught…Something. We only had hard copies, so re-type it I would. That was part of the deal, and it was only seventy-some pages, so whatever.

NaNoWriMo Update–Week Four

Posted on November 29, 2009 by admin • 8 Comments

Feh. I have been wickedly sick for the past week and a half, so I haven’t made my personal daily goal this week. I am not very happy about it, but I am trying to cut myself some slack. Admittedly, I’m not very good at it, but eh. So, I have readjusted my goal for the last two days of this year’s NaNoWriMo. I want to make it to 200,000 words. Currently, I have 191,009. In other words, I have to write 9 K in two days. Is it doable? If I were healthy, I would say no sweat. However, I am not as sanguine because I feel like crap right now. Still, I will soldier on and try to meet my new goal.

Currently, I have one complete novel and a sizable start on the follow-up novel. In addition, I have started a strange stream-of-conscious non-fiction/fiction piece. We’ll see where that one goes as well. The first two are mysteries. The finished one is messy, raw, and way-the-fuck-too long, but I’m reasonably happy with the overall shape of it. The second looks as if it’ll be nearly as messy, raw, and long. Oh well. I don’t have to worry about that right now.

In other news, I will be going to the doc tomorrow morning. I really hope she can sort me out and give me new lungs while she’s at it.

NaNoWriMo Update–Week Three

Posted on November 22, 2009 by admin • 12 Comments

Hi. I am on track with NaNoWriMo. As of last night, I have 150,007 words. However, I still feel shitty, so I am trying to decide if I’m going to crank out 7,500 words tonight. I have to admit, it is amusing me to receive the NaNoWriMo pep talks telling me to hang in there and to not give up. I think I will ask if I can write a pep talk for next year’s NaNoWriMo. It would say something like this:

Hi! It’s week three, and you probably feel overwhelmed by how many words you have left to write. Well, not me! Ha!

I’m kidding, of course. That would be mean, and I try not to be mean–at least on the outside.

As for me, I feel like shit. I temporarily lost my voice tonight, which was strange, indeed. It’s only happened to me once before, and I was relieved that I could still type. I mean, can you imagine if I had no venue in which I could voice my opinion? Shudder.

I skipped taiji today because my body just wasn’t up to it. Hell, I can barely walk from the living room to the kitchen. This is the one time when I wished someone lived in the house with me. I love my kittehs, but they suck at serving me.

If I don’t get better by Monday, I will stop by the Minute Clinic. In the meantime, I am pretty much butt-melding with the couch–though I am now in my computer seat. I’ll let y’all know when I’m better.

NaNoWriMo Update – Week Two

Posted on November 16, 2009 by admin • 12 Comments

Small bit of good news. I have reached my daily goal for NaNoWriMo thus far. I was going to update y’all on how I’ve done for the second week, but then the stupid flashbacks got in the way. So. I haven’t done my writing for today yet, but through November 15, I have 112,515 words. Yay, me.

P.S. For the math-impaired, that’s 7,500 words a day.

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